by The Troutist, October 01, 2013

I didn’t think it was possible but this year Ed Iman’s Fish Camp was even better than last years. This is going to be a multi-series column, I am not sure exactly how many but I am leaning towards two or three. Most fish Camps I arrive on a Sunday afternoon and head out early Thursday morning. This year I had a couple more opportunities to get out and do some more hover fishing at the mouth of the Deschutes River. That’s right all I had to do was concentrate on fishing and not worry too much about snapping photos, for me that is always a good thing and it paid off. I will tell you more about these adventures as this story unfolds. To say I am exhausted is an understatement; turning a four day adventure into six day’s has definitely taken all the steam out of these old bones. This is one of those events that I start counting the days until the next one so regardless of how beat up I am I just can’t wait to get to the next one.

I was on the road at 6:30 am Sunday morning and headed to the Peach Tree Campground located in Maryhill, Washington in the rugged but beautiful Columbia Gorge. I arrived around 11:30am, signed in and got my rig in order for the stay. I turn it into a mini office where I can escape and write my notes, check the days photos, charge all my batteries for my electronics, and yes it is also my sleeping quarters. I like having all of my things in one space it helps keep me organized, or at least as organized as I get. I then proceeded to make my rounds visiting and catching up with my old friends. There was one thing that caught my eye and that was Dave Eng from STS magazine taking care of his and Cindy Thompson’s catch of the day, Cindy is also from Amato Publications. Talk about nice Chinook salmon some of those were in the upper teens and into the twenty pound mark. But there was something else I noticed and that was team work, while Dave took care of the fish Cindy was prepping the boat for the next day’s adventure.

I then made my way to the Mess Section which my only complaint was the food was too good with all the meals cooked to perfection and the appetizers were to kill for. I didn’t think it was possible to gain weight in the matter of six days. I started eating non-stop on Sunday thru Friday at noon, my clothes now fit just a bit snugger. Fred Larson then introduced me to Camp Chef’s new award winning pizza oven. This thing is a work of art and for all of you outdoor cooking enthusiast’s a must have. It puts out some very tasty pizza and can cook a huge salmon filet to perfection in just a matter of minutes. Whoever designed this is a genius and what a great and simple way to add more selections to your outdoor cooking. I believe the MSRP is around $150.00 and if you watch the sales I am sure you can even do better. Take it from me only your imagination can hold you back with the things you can create and serve with this new pizza oven. Two thumbs up from the Uncle Wes kitchen.

Now if this is not enough renowned Dutch Oven Chef Cee Dub was also in the kitchen. Cee Dub has several books out on the subject and travels throughout the NW giving demonstrations and also gives seminars at all of the outdoor shows. I might add that he has a very loyal following and shows you how you can create main dishes, breads, deserts, and much, much, more. Once again this year Cee Dub went above and beyond the call of duty with sour dough bread, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls and strudel to name just a few treats. Is it any wonder my clothes are a little snug.

After completely stuffing myself with snacks I was told that I would be heading out with Dave Eng, Cindy Thompson, and Izorline guys, President/CEO Steve Ichinokuchi, and National Sales Rep Jim Duntley. Steve and Jim have become good friends over the past few years and although they are really heavy into the deep sea angling for the big boys they to also look forward to this salmon fishery as much as I do. As I said before when I arrived the weather was beautiful but that was soon to change. After dinner and evening set in we were to experience high winds, torrential down pours, and a thunder and lightning show that was spectacular. I called it a night very early in anticipation of Mondays outing, I was also hoping that this storm would blow over and we would get to go out.

I was up at 4am prepping all my gear and getting myself ready for the big day. After a filling breakfast of biscuits and gravy Steve, Jim, and myself loaded up and headed for the Heritage Boat Launch which is located right at the mouth of the Deschutes River. It costs a few bucks to launch out of this ramp but it is well worth it especially if the weather should turn and the mighty Columbia gets angry. We were going to be using Lamiglas rods, model #G1330T, 8’, 10-20 pound test. These rods are perfect for hover fishing, sensitive tip and enough back bone to set the hooks and battle these Up River Bright Chinook salmon. For those of you that don’t know what hover fishing is, it is back trolling eggs just off the bottom of the river. We were using 2 oz weights, 20lb XXX Izorline leader, 2/0 or 3/0 hooks, and eggs.

This is a controlled back drift making sure your lines are horizontal and your rod tips about 6-inches off of the water. More often than not the bite is very subtle maybe just a slight tug when you see that or feel it set the hook and hold on for a great battle. The hook set is generally right in the nose because the salmon are not eating the eggs but crushing them. Over the past few years this has become my favorite style of angling. This type of angling calls for total concentration on the tip of your rod, if you are not paying attention it is quite easy to miss a bite. The legendary retired guide Herb Good perfected this method and once again this year he took out anglers to help out. To give you an idea of what an expert he is one day they had their limit of 12 in the record time of 61 minutes. Not too shabby for a retired guide and a boat load of rookies.

Our morning started out with Cindy putting on a clinic as she had her limit in quick order battling these hard fighting fish like a seasoned pro. Not only is she a great angler she is also a very skilled deck hand, never missed putting the fish in the net. As the day wore on the wind was picking up and making it very difficult to see if you were getting a bite with the waves rocking the boat and our rod tip’s bouncing up and down. Dave was willing to stay out until everyone had their limits but we were all in agreement and having firsthand experience fighting the wind and keeping control of your boat is not an enjoyable task, we called it a day. It was a great day we were on shy of our boat limit landing 9 adults and 2 jacks. We also had a double, what a fire drill that was and both of them found their way into the net. This was a great start to Fish Camp 2013.



Check out the pictures of Fish Camp 2013 in the photo album section of my Uncle Wes face book page. So until next time may your next trout be your trophy mount. The Troutist-“Uncle Wes” Malmberg.




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